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A29
life
Saturday, January 9, 2016 www.guardian.co.tt Guardian
UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
The UNDP invites applications from suitably qualified applicants
for the following Consultancies under the project
Low Emission Capacity Building Programme (LECB) in
Trinidad and Tobago:
• Project Consultant - The amendment/development of Sectoral
Policies and Legislation for the Energy (Power Generation),
Industry/Mining &Transport Sectors
• Project Consultant -- Development of an Implementation Plan
and Institutional Framework for the Intended Nationally
Determined Contribution (INDC) in T&T
How to Apply
The Procurement Notices including the Terms of Reference (TORs) can
be obtained by visiting the UNDP Trinidad and Tobago website at:
h
Candidates should download and complete the P11 Personal History
Form from the UNDP Trinidad and Tobago website and/or hand deliver
it together with the other submission requirements indicated in the
Procurement Notices by 4:00pm on January 29th 2016 to:
registry.tt@undp.org or deliver to:
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
UN House,
3A Chancery Lane,
Port-of-Spain.
Re: Project Consultant- "Name Consultancy"
Please ensure to quote the name of the consultancy for which
you are applying
Unsuitable applications will not be acknowledged
0109004
A fully automated home is still years
away, but the building blocks are
already here: the phone that turns on
the coffee maker from the bedroom,
the thermostat that controls the lights
when you re away, the window shades
that lift when you say "good morn-
ing."
Although these still aren t items most
people seek out, they re catching on.
Research firm Strategy Analytics esti-
mates that the number of US house-
holds with some form of smart-home
system grew 30 per cent in 2015 to 27
million, or about one in five.
With the backing of big names such
as Samsung, Apple and Nest, a sister
company of Google s, smart-home
functionality is slowly creeping into
everyday homes. Even Amazon is get-
ting involved with its Echo speaker that
can respond to voice commands. At
the CES gadget show in Las Vegas, the
scheduled topic of a Samsung keynote
Thursday is the smart home of today
---not tomorrow or five years from now.
Here s how you might start building
your own smart home:
Gadgets first, connectivity later
Drop the notion that you have to
rewire your entire home and replace
all your lights and appliances.
Nest, a maker of smart-home prod-
ucts, says it doesn t market its camera,
smoke alarm and thermostat as smart-
home products, but as products that
happen to tap the Internet for increased
functionality. From there, gadgets can
start talking to each other, whether
they re made by the same manufacturer
or by third parties.
Andrew Brooks, co-founder of Sam-
sung s smart-home business, Smart-
Things, says households often start
with security-related products, such
as locks and garage doors, and evolve
from there. Samsung s new smart TVs
will have built-in smart-home capa-
bilities, negating the need to buy a hub
to get started.
What about your existing lights, TVs
and coffee makers? You can buy smart
plugs; with a voice command or tap of
an app, you can then turn devices on
or off once you ve plugged them in.
What you can do with it
During a trip over the holidays, I was
able to check my Nest camera through
an app to confirm that the lights were
off. If they weren t, Siri could have
turned them off, since my lights are
connected to an iDevices smart plug
synced with Apple s HomeKit system---
and thus with Siri. Motion sensors
synced with a SmartThings hub can
tell me whether anyone, such as my
super, has been in my apartment. A
Mr Coffee machine can start brewing
with a tap of the phone, thanks to inte-
gration with Belkin s WeMo system.
When home, I can group products
such that the TV and main lights turn
off and a night light comes on when
I say, "good night."
It s relatively straightforward to add
components as time and budgets per-
mit. With smart locks, doors automat-
ically lock when you leave. Smart appli-
ances such as the Nest thermostat can
also help save energy. Smart-home sys-
tems also can incorporate window
shades and irrigation systems---perhaps
the sprinklers briefly turn off as you
walk by.
The smart home divided
Though apps try to make the setup
easy, there s still a lot to think about.
To get the most out of a smart home,
you need to assign lights and appliances
to specific rooms on the app. Then you
need to enable automation through the
app---figuring out which devices do
what when you say "good morning"
or "good night." It isn t too difficult
for tech enthusiasts to figure out, but
it could be challenging for folks who
want things that "just work."
Within days, I noticed some quirks
in my setup. Because my main lights
are connected to a smart plug, voice
commands and the smartphone app
effectively take control, meaning I actu-
ally can t use the wall switch to turn
the lights back on. It takes a few extra
seconds to activate Siri and tell her
what to do.
In theory, I could just have the lights
come on automatically when I open
the front door, which has a motion
sensor attached. But that sensor is tied
to Samsung s system, while the lights
are with Apple s. And that coffee
maker? Samsung s system works with
some WeMo devices, but the coffee
maker isn t listed. The best I could do
is attach a coffee maker to a Samsung
smart plug, so that a bedroom motion
sensor triggers coffee in the morning.
Besides Samsung, Apple, Nest, Ama-
zon and WeMo, there are also smaller
systems from the likes of Lowes and
Insteon. Some systems work with oth-
ers, at least in some respects, but it s
far from guaranteed. Most people won t
be trying out competing systems the
way I do, but my example does illustrate
how your first smart device might lock
you into an "ecosystem" controlled by
a single company.
Other considerations
It s comforting to know whether your
toaster oven is off, but then you run
the risk of accidentally issuing a com-
mand to turn it on. I briefly attached
a space heater to a smart plug to turn
on when I say "good night." I then
quickly disconnected that, lest I start
a fire. There are some safety mecha-
nisms; a smart oven from Whirlpool
ships without the ability to turn it on
remotely (though you could decide to
activate that function). You need to be
aware of safety hazards---and ask.
In addition, you ll have to trust that
these systems are secure. Apple, for
instance, requires that HomeKit devices
use chips it approves for security, but
there might be other vulnerable points
once data leave the HomeKit environ-
ment. Other companies make similar
promises on security. But even with a
strong password, I often turn the Nest
camera around to face the wall when
I m home---just in case. (AP)
Smart homes of tomorrow possible today
The Nest Cam, a home security cam-
era that can stream video to a laptop
or mobile device. A fully automated
home is still years away, but the build-
ing blocks are already here. AP PHOTO
...if you're tenacious